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Dialogical Planning is a very personal book, as it relates the philosophical explorations of Harper and Stein over a fifteen-year period... It incorporates eleven contributions published between 1992 and 2005... [T]his is a major contribution to planning theory. It offers an inquiry that takes root in planning practice and blossoms into an original theoretical perspective on planning, which stands out among the two or three major schools of thought that dominate the field... Dialogical Planning assumes prior knowledge of philosophy and planning theory. --Pierre Filion, Canadian Journal of Urban Research The purpose of this book is to address the question: What is the best planning approach for a contemporary liberal democratic society? Harper and Stein are looking for a process that will help us to understand, critique, develop, and reform public institutions, processes, and agencies, and to make decisions and resolve conflicts within these frameworks... The philosophical angle of the book is clear in the preface; the book is a critical study of a certain conception of philosophy, namely neopragmatism, and its application to planning. Harper and Stein are seeking to situate dialogical planning in relation to contemporary ideas about epistemology, rational action, deliberative democracy, power, and so on... Harper and Stein painstakingly position dialogical planning in relation to the various tenets and characteristics of postmodernism. They do an important job in clarifying why certain intellectual currents in social research do not fit well with communicative planning's critical and liberal orientation... Harper and Stein's book addresses problems and contradictions that have been haunting planning theory at least for the last couple of decades. This includes the modernism/postmodernism debate, the Rawlsian presentation of critical liberalism, the varying approaches to multiculturalism, and critiques of Foucauldian ideas of power. Harper and Stein'

<p> Dialogical Planning is a very personal book, as it relates the philosophical explorations of Harper and Stein over a fifteen-year period... It incorporates eleven contributions published between 1992 and 2005... [T]his is a major contribution to planning theory. It offers an inquiry that takes root in planning practice and blossoms into an original theoretical perspective on planning, which stands out among the two or three major schools of thought that dominate the field... Dialogical Planning assumes prior knowledge of philosophy and planning theory. <p> --Pierre Filion, Canadian Journal of Urban Research <p> The purpose of this book is to address the question: What is the best planning approach for a contemporary liberal democratic society? Harper and Stein are looking for a process that will help us to understand, critique, develop, and reform public institutions, processes, and agencies, and to make decisions and resolve conflicts within these frameworks... The philosophical angle of the book is clear in the preface; the book is a critical study of a certain conception of philosophy, namely neopragmatism, and its application to planning. Harper and Stein are seeking to situate dialogical planning in relation to contemporary ideas about epistemology, rational action, deliberative democracy, power, and so on... Harper and Stein painstakingly position dialogical planning in relation to the various tenets and characteristics of postmodernism. They do an important job in clarifying why certain intellectual currents in social research do not fit well with communicative planning's critical and liberal orientation... Harper and Stein's book addresses problems and contradictions that have been haunting planning theory at least for the last couple of decades. This includes the modernism/postmodernism debate, the Rawlsian presentation of critical liberalism, the varying approaches to multiculturalism, and critiques of Foucauldian ideas of power. Harper and Stein'

Harper and Stein's... engaging style makes their book accessible and informative to a wide range of audiences, from graduate students through fellow academics to reflective practitioners... These ideas and concepts from recent and contemporary philosophy are highly relevant for planning theorists and practitioners alike, and for this Harper and Stein's book makes enlightening reading. </p> --E.R. Alexander, <em>Planning Theory</em></p> Harper and Stein are seeking to situate dialogical planning in relation to contemporary ideas about epistemology, rational action, deliberative democracy, power, and so on. No other textbook takes postmodernism as seriously as this one. Harper and Stein painstakingly position dialogical planning in relation to the various tenants and characteristics of postmodernism. They do an important job of clarifying why certain intellectual currents in social research do not fit well with communicative planning's critical and liberal orientation... Harper and Stein's book addresses problems and contradictions that have been haunting planning theory at least for the last couple of decades. This includes the modernism/postmodernism debate, the Rawlsian presentation of critical liberalism, the varying approaches to multiculturalism, and critiques of Foucauldian ideas of power. Harper and Stein's treatment of these themes should make the book appealing to a wide range of planning theorists. </p> --Tore Sager, <em>Journal of Urban Affairs</em></p>

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Thomas L. Harper (Edited by) , Stanley M. Stein (Edited by)

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